Frozen in Time
by Stargate Fan
Summary: Missing scene from Continuum. SPOILERS! What happened to Daniel between the time he was left alone on the ice and when he saw Sam and Cam again?


Daniel looked up into the sky and thought that it seemed he could see every single shining star in the universe. The sky had turned a cobalt blue and even with dawn approaching, it was still glorious! The northern lights flashed above in green and yellow hues and it was all quite breathtaking. Too bad there was no one there to share it with.

Now that he had time to think about it, he wondered what had just happened. The extraction should have gone without a hitch. Instead, Vala and Teal'c had just disappeared and Jack was dead. Jack. Okay, but was Jack dead? They had to be in another time line! It was the only explanation he could come up with. Some things would be the same but a lot would be different. Hell, Jack could be sitting on the deck of a fishing boat in Minnesota, enjoying a cold beer and his retirement from the Air Force. What a mess.

He knew he was right in sending Cam and Sam away. He would have just slowed them down and they didn't have much of a chance to begin with. It was harder than he thought it would be. He and Sam had grown so close over the years. He couldn't quite put a label on what they had together. She was more than just a co-worker. She had never been his lover but he had to admit that it had crossed his mind, more than once. Hell, he was a guy! He'd be crazy not to! But, he would never have told her that. He had more respect for her than that and life was tough enough without adding any tension to an already chaotic world they operated in. She was beautiful in more ways than just appearance. Their relationship just didn't fit into any description.

Cam had become a great friend in a different way than Jack had been. Losing Jack to Washington was tough but it was easier with Cam around. Cam had a practical way of looking at things but he still had a sense of humor and one of honor that seemed to fill the empty space in the team.

Teal'c was a solid presence in his life and he knew he could always count on him for honesty, loyalty and honor. He wondered where he was in this time line. With Apophis, still? Ba'al? Wherever he was, Daniel was sure that he wanted to be free.

Vala was an annoyance, at first, but had become a valued member of the team, despite the odds. The little thief had worked her way into the hearts of just about everyone at the SGC, himself included. Yes, she drove him crazy but he had come to respect her dignified strength and fierce determination to rid the galaxy of the Ori. Where was she right now? Had she escaped her Goa'uld symbiote or was she still being controlled by Qetesh? What a depressing thought, considering what she had just told them about the extraction process.

Would he miss them when he was dead? Was that even possible?

That realization hit him like a ton of bricks when he watched Cam and Sam climb over that last block of ice in the distance. He saw one of them, probably Sam, turn and look back. And then, she was gone.. He was truly alone.

His left leg was completely numb now and his right was nearly the same. The thin fabric of the Desert Storm camo did nothing to provide protection from the elements. He knew that it wouldn't be long before hypothermia set in, too. _'Ironic. I was born in the desert and will die at the north pole. Go figure.' _

He thought about the story he was told as a child about his birth. By May, the dig site near Giza was heating up to over a hundred degrees and his mother's obstetrician ordered her to stay in Cairo. It was too dangerous for her and her unborn child to be exposed to such conditions. She agreed and she and his father rented a small house for the duration of their stay there. She spent her days doing translations and his father drove to the dig site each morning before dawn. As time came closer for her to give birth, his father stayed at the house and others gave him reports on the progress at the site. On July 8, 1965, it was 133°F at the site but a cool 72 degrees in the delivery room where he was born.

_'I could sure use some of that heat, now!'_ he thought.

His mind drifted a bit and he realized that he wasn't shivering any more, a true danger sign for hypothermia. He started swinging his arms back and forth and over his head to keep the blood pumping and then thought, '_What's the use? I'm just prolonging the inevitable.'_ His fingertips were numb and he felt sleepy. He laid back and watched the sky lighten up overhead and hoped he would be dead before a polar bear found him. _'I do NOT want the last thing I see to be a polar bear tearing my guts out.'_

He never heard the submarine rise through the ice behind him in the same hole the Achilles had been stuck in. As he looked towards the rising sun, he sighed. His thoughts became scattered and he couldn't remember where he was or why he was there. He saw shapes moving in front of him but couldn't determine their purpose or likeness.

0 0

"I think he's alive sir but I can't be sure! I'm having a hard time finding a pulse! I know we shouldn't move him but we have to get him out of this weather!" CPR had been started but there was no way to press his ear to the man's chest to listen, without further exposing him to the elements.

The Captain of the Alexandria sent the order for them to securely strap the stranger to the stretcher and bring him aboard. Daniel's body was quickly lowered feet first through the coning tower and then hustled to the sick bay. It took a bit but they finally managed to get through the outer layers of his warm weather gear and found Daniel barely alive. His core temperature was 88°F so he was given humidified oxygen and warmed intravenous saline. Heat packs were applied to his neck, armpits, and groin and he was wrapped in warming blankets.

As they cut away his pant legs, they found his left leg completely frozen from the knee down. The skin was rock hard and this worried the HMC, knowing that this man would probably need amputation, if he survived. "What in the world was he doing out there? There's no structures around! He's miles from anything close to resembling a community of any sort. No sled dogs, no other people? I don't get it?"

The Corpsman could only shake his head. The Doc was right. This didn't make any sense.

0 0

It took almost 90 minutes for Daniel to wake up and he was totally confused when he did. His temperature was still down a bit but the life saving skills used by the crew in the sickbay worked wonderfully to bring him back from the brink of death. He realized he was warm and safe but didn't know where he was. He started to panic a bit but then realized that he was in a hospital bed. But where?

"Sir, he's coming around."

Daniel quickly looked to the right to find a man in uniform standing by his bed. A closer look revealed the man was military, probably Navy.

The man looked Daniel in the eyes and said, "I know you're confused. We found you on the ice. Can you tell me your name?"

The oxygen mask muffled his voice a bit the the corpsman heard him say he was Daniel Jackson. That's when the Captain and the Chief stepped forward. The Doctor said, "Son, I don't what you were doing out there but you came this close to dying."

Daniel watched as the Chief used his two fingers on his right hand to approximate about an inch. He was so tired and all he could do was close his eyes and drift back to sleep.

The Doc could see that the man was exhausted and still needed careful attention so he decided that any questioning could wait. He said to the corpsman, "Get him some warm soup and keep a close eye on his vitals. When he's more alert, let me know."

Two hours later, Daniel was sitting up in bed when the Captain walked in. He asked the Doc about him and was told that the man was awake and asking questions. He stood at the end of the bed and said, "Okay, let's have it."

"It's classified."

The the young Captain stared at Daniel and then said, "Okay, let's go back to the beginning. What's your name?"

"I told you that. Listen, two of my friends are out there somewhere and we have to find them. They went to get help when the ship we were on sunk." He saw the doubt on the faces around him. "Look, I'm not crazy! "

"Maybe not but how do I know what to believe about you? We found you on the ice, hundreds of miles from nowhere. Alone. Nearly froze to death. And you can't tell my why?"

"No, I'm sorry. Until I get word from my friends, I can't say anything."

The Captain looked at Daniel and then said to the corpsman, "I want security here now. He's to be handcuffed to the rail and nobody is allowed in here except medical staff and myself. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Sir!"

The Captain left the room, shaking his head and muttering.

"Wait!" Daniel shouted. "I'm not lying. We were on the Achilles and managed to get out of the ship before it went down. Please! My friends will die if you don't find them!" Daniel was very agitated and tried to get out of the bed but only managed to throw the covers back before the corpsman got to his side and tried to get him to lay back on the bed. The pain in his leg was incredible and he cried out when he tried to move it.

The doc decided give Daniel something for the pain and hoped it would also calm the man down.

The pain meds did calm him down but he was still insistent that someone help his friends.

Finally, the Captain returned and stood at the end of the bed with his arms crossed. "Mr. Jackson, we had a satellite check the location we found you at and we saw that there was a ship in that location.. We've also located two other persons walking across an ice field and we have a team of Special Forces on the way to intercept them. We'll surface near them and take them aboard. If these two are your friends, you three will have some explaining to do. I'll allow the cuffs to be removed if you promise to remain calm."

"I promise."

While the cuffs were being removed, the Doc said, "We've examined your leg and we're pretty sure you're going to lose the left one from the knee down. There's too much damage to the tissue for it to heal. We aren't equipped to deal with that here on the sub so as soon as we can, you'll be transferred to a facility that will take over your medical care."

Daniel wasn't really surprised to hear the news. The pain killers were working but he'd seen what his leg looked like when they'd changed the bandages and while he wasn't a medical expert, he knew enough to determine that they couldn't save it.

Daniel sank back into the bed, relieved that Sam and Cam had been found. He was sure it was them. As soon as they arrived, they would have to figure out how to fix the time line and return things to the way they were supposed to be. If they could.


End file.
